Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale can both be considered to be feminist works. They both look at the different aspects of feminism which can be seen in the very different environments in which the stories in these novels are set and these actually give a hint of the authors’ thoughts on the feminism. The Passion is a novel set in the Napoleonic age and it is a story based on two characters, Henri, who is a cook, and Villanelle, a web footed cross dresser who works in a casino. The Handmaid’s Tale on the other hand is a story set in a futuristic New England after the destruction of the United States and it is based on the experiences of Offred, a handmaid. Both of these stories are told according to the view of the main characters and they often display a great sense of the feminist ideology, whether it is done consciously or unconsciously by the authors. One would be tempted to say that these novels are attempts by the authors to advance the feminist agenda by showing us the progress that has been made by women so far and how this progress might be quickly eroded. They attempt to show the weaknesses that plague the feminist movement and the fact that despite all its recent gains, this movement is still very new and if anything catastrophic were to happen; then all these gains would be lost in an instant mainly because of the nature of these gains.
In the state of Gilead where The Handmaid’s Tale is set, women are kept apart from the men and it is expected that they support each other in all the aspects of life. If these women are in the same household, they are expected to work together to fulfill the various duties which have been set for their gender. In this novel, women are presented to be strong and to be able to deal with many of the issues which face them on their own without the help of men. It is said that the women are better suited to handle the problems which face them and it is this more than anything that ensures that they are isolated. The theocratic state of Gilead justifies the isolation of the women in their society by using teachings from the bible. The Passion, on the other hand, is a novel which is based on two characters, one male and one female. Of these, the female character, Villanelle, is portrayed to be the stronger of the two and through her cross dressing displaying those characteristics which one would consider being very masculine. The male character, Henri, is the complete opposite of Villanelle due to the fact that he feels inadequate in his position in society and tends to compensate for this through his dedication to writing enhanced stories about himself in a diary. Furthermore, although he is a soldier in Napoleon’s army, Henri is depicted as a person who is afraid to kill, something which one would not expect from most men. One would say that the women being isolated in Gilead is as a direct result of the feminist movement belief that women can do better on their own without the presence of men. It is Atwood’s means of symbolizing the weaknesses of the feminist movement because no matter what they do, men are still as necessary in their lives as women are in men’s lives and none can do without the other.
On the other hand, the strong independent nature of Villanelle shows a great support for the feminist movement from Winterson. This is also accompanied by a desire to achieve what Villanelle wants through her dressing as a boy which could be interpreted as a symbol of women trying to step into the roles traditionally reserved for men. While Villanelle is depicted as being of a strong personality and fearless, Henri is shown to be weak and incompetent and this might be considered to be Winterson’s attempt to show that women are as good as men and that gender roles are not just limited to one gender and that they may in fact be considered to be universal. Villanelle’s character is in direct contrast to that displayed by Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale because Offred is depicted to be a weak character who willingly submits to the circumstances which have been brought her way. Not only does she submit to these circumstances, however demeaning they are, she also looks down upon the feminist ways of her mother as a way of dealing with them. Despite the dislike for Moira’s feminism, her daughter also displays a tinge of admiration for her mother because Offred cannot help but admire the way her mother always stood up for what she thought were the rights of women. The strength which women are able to display is shown in both novels because while both main female characters may seem to be weak on the outside, they are shown to have a very strong will.
In The Passion, the strength of character of Villanelle is shown when her willingness to tell a story is accepted by the men to whom she tells it to and this is despite the fact that during her times, women were rarely ever assertive or would they openly speak in public. Furthermore, Villanelle is depicted as a woman who knows exactly what she wants and this is seen when she has the strength to leave her abusive husband and go elsewhere, which is something which also rarely happened in the period where the story is set. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is also seen to have a strong will because although she is used sexually by the commander and that she is treated as nothing more than a vessel through which children can be made, she still refuses to let these circumstances bring her down and in fact, she gains her strength from it. She views the sexual intercourse she has with the commander as being nothing more than a business which does not involve any emotional attachment on her part. The strength of character shown by these women can be considered to be a true depiction of a woman according to the feminist movement.
In conclusion, it can be said that it is indeed true that the main female characters in the novels above are both unconsciously being feminists in their actions. This is due to the fact that although they live in times where the female voice is rarely hard, the still find ways to fight back against the male dominated society. Despite their appearance as weak creatures at first, as the novels progress, one discovers that there is more to them because their strength is not shown physically but mentally, and this is where they are actually far much better than their male counterparts.